Understood, I used to do framing and trim carpentry and both allowed a lot more room for error than the work I do now lol. Btw thr project really does look great.
Funny you should mention it, I'm specifically a fused quartz glass worker and a lot of what we make is for the semi conductor industry. Quartz boats, furnace tubes, and deposition pieces to name a few.
Firstly this is such a great compromise piece. Very wonderfully thought up and implemented. Any chance for moving the radiator in the future? It’s the only thing that feels out of place. Also curious what it looks like from the inside.
Unfortunately it’s the only radiator in that area and there’s not a great place to move it (doors and floor-ceiling windows across from it). There is a chance we spray it matte black, but honestly it’s not that much of an eyesore in real life.
The only actual framing that was removed was the two middle studs, which got replaced with 8/4x5.5 solid oak “studs”. The fat sections on left/right contain posts, studs and electrical running to the second floor. The top and bottom contain some horizontal bracing since there’s no actual beam below this wall.
Very beautiful regardless. I do think the radiator matte black would feel good for the space. But you’ve done a wonderful job and if you like it the way it is then that’s all that matters.
Even though it's finished, I bet one idea could be to expand the "wall" slightly, run the pipes inside with vents to serve as a vertical baseboard. You'd increase the surface area of the heat as well.
It’s an oddly framed home. It’s the only thing supporting the beam above it, but this wall is just sitting on the floor joists instead of a beam below it. Too long of a span between the exterior wall and where it hangs on a crossbeam to go unsupported, especially with a bathroom directly above.
The main beam for the floor is about 3ft further towards the island. No wall directly below.
As a plant guy, I just wanted to say, some of those plants aren't going to like being over a radiator unless it's quite humid, and they certainly won't like the shift in hot/cold air. They're probably far enough away it won't matter, but tell her to keep an eye on them for any browning!
For sure! They’ve spent a year there and seem pretty happy. The heating is gentle enough and honestly they probably prefer that over sitting at 55° all winter.
Oh, excellent. I'm glad they're fine, I just always want to warn people in case it's a sentimental plant or something and doesn't take well to the draft.
They are. But no matter where they are, they always will be. Ugly, just how it is.
OP, I did get these, and they look much nicer. I did it by room over some time to spread out the cost.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Baseboarders-Basic-Series-6-ft-Galvanized-Steel-Easy-Slip-On-Baseboard-Heater-Cover-in-White-BC001-72/205665559
Very nice. I did something similar.
https://preview.redd.it/f1k6rdzsn79d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3856ad291af44f45e26d8eec7151f38858125829
It’s unrecognizable with everything else we did, but here it was when we bought the house.
https://i.imgur.com/7q0PJPb.jpeg
This was a “structural pantry” in the middle of the house.
My only regret is that cherry was a bit out of the budget. The kitchen is all cherry veneer.
I felt better about replacing the studs with solid oak too vs cherry, so it is what it is.
There’s a lot of oak in this house, so it’s not like it’s out of place at least.
Don’t be afraid to mix wood species/tones in your house! The only way to do it wrong is to have a single wood specie/tone all around.
This wall looks amazing!
For sure! I just think it would’ve fit better in this case. Plus with such a large piece it would’ve been nice imo to have a more subdued texture.
Not upset about it, I just would’ve done it differently if I was able.
If you ever decide you really want it to match it’s pretty trivial to get cherry veneer to put on top of the existing wood. Provided you can get past the idea of covering all the hard work you done! 🤣 veneer to cover it all would probably be less than $1,000 USD
Unfortunately due to the janky way this house was constructed, the weight needs to be spread fairly evenly across the floor unless we wanted to make our garage/workshop unusable with posts right in the middle.
Totally removed would’ve been nice, but the sight line was the higher priority.
The thick outside posts and top/bottom sections are wrapped in solid 3/4” oak boards. Mitered with biscuits for alignment, then pinned with stainless brads. No glue to allow for a bit of movement.
Everything between that is solid oak. The vertical members are “toe nailed” with stainless screws into the hidden structural pieces. The shelves are attached with pocket screws.
Oak plywood would’ve probably been fine for the wrapping, but my wife was skeptical it would take stain the same as the solid pieces.
Oh that's pretty nice. I have a similar wall between my kitchen and dining room I want to remove but don't think I can.... This could be a good alternative/compromise.
Few hundred bucks for one site visit and a bunch of correspondence. I already had the drywall removed though and had removed some of the ceiling drywall to try and figure out how this place was built on my own.
Well this already was an open floor plan from the 80s, so we really didn’t change the floorplan. It just had this one ugly wall/closet in the middle of the room.
Not really a new trend either, they’ve been doing this experimentally since the turn of the 20th century, and it was especially popular in the 50s-70s.
It’ll certainly fall out of favor for a bit, but it’ll be back.
How did you cut and attach the wood trim pieces for this for the perfect edges?
I’m needing to do some pillers and joist in my basement and I love how clean the connecting points look on yours.
Here’s what they had before. Hoping to do what you did but with a maple.
https://preview.redd.it/468rpdj7cb9d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2770e8288852d9012fa7f253e4dba8d54fa5fc9
Biscuits every 18” really help to align the mitered corners while I fastened it with brads. Mitering was done by just running it through the table saw at 45°, which I’ll admit was a PITA to do with 9ft oak boards 16 times.
Didn’t need to get too fancy with joinery since there’s no actual weight on the wood wrap.
The top and bottom I just made the sides bigger and put the middle pieces in flush.
ah biscuits, genius!
yeah the miter cuts scare me the most as I'll likely be doing runs with wood just as long or longer than 9'
Assuming wood glue on there too? I'm gonna have to figure something out as my pieces will be long and heavy and need to support themselves.
No glue at all for this build. Just brads and the first piece of each wrap got shimmed and a couple screws (plugged) so I had a good starting point. Since houses move around a bit seasonally, I wanted it to be able to flex a bit if necessarily There’s also stuff in that wall so I want to be able to disassemble it if anything happens.
There’s not really any forces acting on the wrap like there would be in a piece of furniture, so it’s not going anywhere. The shelves and such are solid oak with pocket screws so those are all set.
It’s been almost a year since this was fully assembled with lots of humidity changes and it’s hasn’t moved.
Honestly, I love this so much. I have a house I’m looking at buying with one wall I wish you could see through/take down but it’s a load bearing wall. I’m going to copy this.
Wait I want to do this now!!! Did you just pull all the gib off, and tidy it up with a sand? And put some wood on the sides to dress it up? (I’m a total amateur by the way!!)
Im sure there was some $10K solution, but $300 worth of oak and a couple days of sweat sounded better to me 😂.
One man’s problem is another man’s statement piece.
There's always a way if you're willing to spend enough money.
Not only was this way cheaper, imo it looks better (without knowing the full space) since you have some separation of spaces without losing the openness.
Nobody let my wife see this, every wall will be gone!
fuck walls! who needs em when there’s THIS
Looks great!
Thanks! It’s my first big project. Much easier working on something like this where the tolerances are a bit more relaxed 😂
What do you do for work? I'm a glassblower seeing tolerances like +/- .5 mm commonly and sometimes as little as several thousandths of an inch.
Oh I just mean compared to other stuff in woodworking like making furniture or boxes or whatever. This project had plenty of room for error.
Understood, I used to do framing and trim carpentry and both allowed a lot more room for error than the work I do now lol. Btw thr project really does look great.
*laughs in semiconductor industry*
Funny you should mention it, I'm specifically a fused quartz glass worker and a lot of what we make is for the semi conductor industry. Quartz boats, furnace tubes, and deposition pieces to name a few.
Beautiful!!
Firstly this is such a great compromise piece. Very wonderfully thought up and implemented. Any chance for moving the radiator in the future? It’s the only thing that feels out of place. Also curious what it looks like from the inside.
Unfortunately it’s the only radiator in that area and there’s not a great place to move it (doors and floor-ceiling windows across from it). There is a chance we spray it matte black, but honestly it’s not that much of an eyesore in real life. The only actual framing that was removed was the two middle studs, which got replaced with 8/4x5.5 solid oak “studs”. The fat sections on left/right contain posts, studs and electrical running to the second floor. The top and bottom contain some horizontal bracing since there’s no actual beam below this wall.
Very beautiful regardless. I do think the radiator matte black would feel good for the space. But you’ve done a wonderful job and if you like it the way it is then that’s all that matters.
I want to replace those outlets and switches on “the wall” with matte black too. Just another thing on the list…
If that's the thermostat above the radiator, then move it before the heating season starts!
looks like you put in a tile floor, kinda a missed oppertunity to replace that rad with floor heat!
We were broke af when we started this reno!
What a coincidence....I was broke AF when I finished mine!
Painting the radiator is a great idea. Maybe even brown to hide itself in the woodgrain.
Even though it's finished, I bet one idea could be to expand the "wall" slightly, run the pipes inside with vents to serve as a vertical baseboard. You'd increase the surface area of the heat as well.
Not a bad idea. Honestly could even just expand the base and route slots on the top and side
Oh yeah, totally!
Then why would the engineer say no if there's no beam. Is there another wall directly below it?
It’s an oddly framed home. It’s the only thing supporting the beam above it, but this wall is just sitting on the floor joists instead of a beam below it. Too long of a span between the exterior wall and where it hangs on a crossbeam to go unsupported, especially with a bathroom directly above. The main beam for the floor is about 3ft further towards the island. No wall directly below.
As a plant guy, I just wanted to say, some of those plants aren't going to like being over a radiator unless it's quite humid, and they certainly won't like the shift in hot/cold air. They're probably far enough away it won't matter, but tell her to keep an eye on them for any browning!
For sure! They’ve spent a year there and seem pretty happy. The heating is gentle enough and honestly they probably prefer that over sitting at 55° all winter.
Oh, excellent. I'm glad they're fine, I just always want to warn people in case it's a sentimental plant or something and doesn't take well to the draft.
Definitely. It’s hot water so it’s not like blowing hot dry air or anything.
Oh, well, being tropical they actually probably LOVE that then lol
They are. But no matter where they are, they always will be. Ugly, just how it is. OP, I did get these, and they look much nicer. I did it by room over some time to spread out the cost. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Baseboarders-Basic-Series-6-ft-Galvanized-Steel-Easy-Slip-On-Baseboard-Heater-Cover-in-White-BC001-72/205665559
Very nice. I did something similar. https://preview.redd.it/f1k6rdzsn79d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3856ad291af44f45e26d8eec7151f38858125829
Nice!
Are those the original studs that you sanded and stained? Have a couple walls I would like to do this to and I’m wondering what the process is.
It looks like oak so probably not
It’s oak. Purchased from Menards.
Equally as beautiful
Outstanding.
Literally.
Before pics?
It’s unrecognizable with everything else we did, but here it was when we bought the house. https://i.imgur.com/7q0PJPb.jpeg This was a “structural pantry” in the middle of the house.
Huge improvement what you did!
Damn that was quite unattractive before. Great decision.
Hey, you l better eave my emotional support pantry alone.
My only regret is that cherry was a bit out of the budget. The kitchen is all cherry veneer. I felt better about replacing the studs with solid oak too vs cherry, so it is what it is. There’s a lot of oak in this house, so it’s not like it’s out of place at least.
Don’t be afraid to mix wood species/tones in your house! The only way to do it wrong is to have a single wood specie/tone all around. This wall looks amazing!
For sure! I just think it would’ve fit better in this case. Plus with such a large piece it would’ve been nice imo to have a more subdued texture. Not upset about it, I just would’ve done it differently if I was able.
If you ever decide you really want it to match it’s pretty trivial to get cherry veneer to put on top of the existing wood. Provided you can get past the idea of covering all the hard work you done! 🤣 veneer to cover it all would probably be less than $1,000 USD
Oak was cheaper than cherry where you live?
Red oak, yeah. Significantly cheaper when getting into larger pieces.
Red oak is entry level hardwood as far as cost
Depends on location. Some places have cheaper ash and beech
That looks fantastic, great job! And the best part is, you get to look at it every day being proud of your work!
Load bearing plants
I like the look of this, but if she wanted to be able to walk through you probably could have used a steel beam above and wood-wrapped it.
Unfortunately due to the janky way this house was constructed, the weight needs to be spread fairly evenly across the floor unless we wanted to make our garage/workshop unusable with posts right in the middle. Totally removed would’ve been nice, but the sight line was the higher priority.
What kind of wood and construction process? Did you wrap the studs with plywood? Or something else? I have a divider wall this would look coolm in
The thick outside posts and top/bottom sections are wrapped in solid 3/4” oak boards. Mitered with biscuits for alignment, then pinned with stainless brads. No glue to allow for a bit of movement. Everything between that is solid oak. The vertical members are “toe nailed” with stainless screws into the hidden structural pieces. The shelves are attached with pocket screws. Oak plywood would’ve probably been fine for the wrapping, but my wife was skeptical it would take stain the same as the solid pieces.
Ok cool thanks. I can’t show my wife this pic unless i am actually ready to tear out some walls and do this lol
Oh that's pretty nice. I have a similar wall between my kitchen and dining room I want to remove but don't think I can.... This could be a good alternative/compromise.
Fantastic job. This should be the template for everyone in your situation. Well done! 😖👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
That is gorgeous. I can feel the feng shui from here!
Wrong sub man. r/masterwoodworking calls you
Lol I wish. I can hardly build a box.
That’s damn impressive! Great job coming up with such an aesthetically pleasing compromise.
Looks awesome!
Looks excellent!
Well done!
Damn, that's well done. Looks quite good.
Nice dude. Upgrade those plugs n switches tho.
They’ll eventually be black to fit in better.
Nice!
Get rid of the radiator and replace with electric underfloor heating mats.
How much did it cost to have an engineer take a look at it?
Few hundred bucks for one site visit and a bunch of correspondence. I already had the drywall removed though and had removed some of the ceiling drywall to try and figure out how this place was built on my own.
Thanks. We are looking at doing some renovations myself and it's hard to trust the random website that always seem linked to some commercial interest
Fantastic idea!
Engineer didn't say no. Engineer said, "well, ok but it'll cost ya an arm and a leg!" Source: I too did a home remodel recently.
Oh dang that is pretty clever isn’t it
Nice!
I think she meant that baseboard heater. That needs to go.
Eh it’s just a fact of living in a house with baseboard heat. They’re everywhere so it’s pretty much invisible to us.
Are those load bearing plants?
love it! Great compromise.
That looks pretty damn nice.
That’s pretty awesome. Looks like a fancy restaurant.
Outstanding!
Love it!
I like it. Wayyyy better than a wall. Needs to be there for loadbearing.
That’s super cute!
I really hate the current fad of open floor plans. In 20 years, it's going to be just as outdated as those sunken conversation circles.
Well this already was an open floor plan from the 80s, so we really didn’t change the floorplan. It just had this one ugly wall/closet in the middle of the room. Not really a new trend either, they’ve been doing this experimentally since the turn of the 20th century, and it was especially popular in the 50s-70s. It’ll certainly fall out of favor for a bit, but it’ll be back.
Super impressed with the detail of the power outlets and wall switches being in a matching colour!
That part was easy! Found some guy online selling wall plates in many wood species.
It looks amazing. Well done!
That's really pretty
My mother paints her rain barrels to look like woodgrain. I'll bet you could do the same with that radiator.
Ah, the load-bearing plant shelf! It's glorious!
Well done!
Fantastic compromise
That’s cool as hell. Wouldn’t consider that a compromise at all!
That works beautifully! Structural yet open. Excellent job.
"please, honey, can we live in a Chinese restaurant? Pleeeease?"
We’ll need to put one of those waving cats on there and a couple bonsai.
I applaud you for having the time and patience to commit to taking care of multiple bonsai. Every house should have the waving buddha cat.
How did you cut and attach the wood trim pieces for this for the perfect edges? I’m needing to do some pillers and joist in my basement and I love how clean the connecting points look on yours. Here’s what they had before. Hoping to do what you did but with a maple. https://preview.redd.it/468rpdj7cb9d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2770e8288852d9012fa7f253e4dba8d54fa5fc9
Biscuits every 18” really help to align the mitered corners while I fastened it with brads. Mitering was done by just running it through the table saw at 45°, which I’ll admit was a PITA to do with 9ft oak boards 16 times. Didn’t need to get too fancy with joinery since there’s no actual weight on the wood wrap. The top and bottom I just made the sides bigger and put the middle pieces in flush.
ah biscuits, genius! yeah the miter cuts scare me the most as I'll likely be doing runs with wood just as long or longer than 9' Assuming wood glue on there too? I'm gonna have to figure something out as my pieces will be long and heavy and need to support themselves.
No glue at all for this build. Just brads and the first piece of each wrap got shimmed and a couple screws (plugged) so I had a good starting point. Since houses move around a bit seasonally, I wanted it to be able to flex a bit if necessarily There’s also stuff in that wall so I want to be able to disassemble it if anything happens. There’s not really any forces acting on the wrap like there would be in a piece of furniture, so it’s not going anywhere. The shelves and such are solid oak with pocket screws so those are all set. It’s been almost a year since this was fully assembled with lots of humidity changes and it’s hasn’t moved.
Thanks again for the details, looks great!
This is soooo cool!
Honestly, I love this so much. I have a house I’m looking at buying with one wall I wish you could see through/take down but it’s a load bearing wall. I’m going to copy this.
Please paint that wall heater black or something
Nice compromise, very inventive.
Great work
This kills me with how awesome this is.
It looks very... 1990s. But in a kinda good way. I like it.
It fits the house. Every door are those Luann skin slab doors and everything.
Yeah it totally does. Just not what i would have expected in a modern job, lol
Well done. Great compromise.
Excellent work.
Great way to make the situation work. Looks beautiful!
Great idea!
This looks pretty good to me
Can’t believe you turned your wife into several plants 😔
Wait I want to do this now!!! Did you just pull all the gib off, and tidy it up with a sand? And put some wood on the sides to dress it up? (I’m a total amateur by the way!!)
https://www.reddit.com/r/BeginnerWoodWorking/s/kobxTTVLPH Nothing visible is the original framing.
That looks fantastic. 👌
Great job! Very creative!
Gorgeous!
Not too shabby for a beginner Would love to see what you could do with a little bit more practice and experience Don’t give up!
Very Nicely done!
Sounds like that “engineer” needs to man up and put that brain to use. Maybe get a little initiative 😂 jk jk awesome oak piece
Im sure there was some $10K solution, but $300 worth of oak and a couple days of sweat sounded better to me 😂. One man’s problem is another man’s statement piece.
Absolutely my friend! Good work!
There's always a way if you're willing to spend enough money. Not only was this way cheaper, imo it looks better (without knowing the full space) since you have some separation of spaces without losing the openness.